Shahram Akbarzadeh

This is an exhilarating coverage of everything to do with the politics of the Middle East. Gilles Kepel takes the reader on a journey over the trouble spots and offers a bird’s eye view of the complexities of Islamic radicalism in the region. The book starts slowly but soon settles into a quick pace, taking the reader from place to place and event to event with case and mastery. Kepel does not shy away from displaying his intricate knowledge of Islam and the Middle East, a habit that might not agree with every reader; but it does help the novice to navigate the many issues that interweave into a grand narrative regarding the evolving nature of jihad.

What can explain the growing assertiveness of Islamist groups? Why are key aspects of the Islamic faith and civilisation that helped Islam flourish in its Golden Age – respect for life and property, philanthropy, tolerance and a thirst for science – being sidelined in the Muslim world? How can we explain the seemingly unstoppable slide from rational thinking in the Muslim world?

The professed ‘clash of civilisations’, primarily between the West and Islam, makes an understanding among civilisations an imperative. Shahram Akbarzadeh has been promoting this understanding. In the past he has worked on Muslim Communities in Australia (2001) and Islam and Political Legitimacy (2003); this time his venture is with Samina Yasmeen. The UNSW Press has also been promoting interfaith understanding by publishing books such as this one.

Why is the Middle East anti-American? That is the core question in Barry Rubin’s flowing account of contemporary politics in that turbulent region of the world. As the director of Global Research in International Affairs in Israel, with a long history of research and publication on the Middle East and US foreign policy towards the region, Rubin is confident of his assessment. He is a prolific writer with some forty books to his name. The present one, The Tragedy of the Middle East, appears to comprise reflections based partly on the collection of media-excerpts and publications by Islamic groups in the wake of the September 11 attacks, published separately as an edited volume, Anti-American Terrorism and the Middle East (2002), although there is no acknowledgment in this book of such a link. The theme of anti-Americanism has also provided the material for a more recent book by Rubin titled Hating America: A History (2004).